Status of floristic analysis of Mt. Pangasugan, Leyte, Philippines - a conservation priority area with extremely high importance
2004
Langenberger, G.(University of Hohenheim, 70593 Stuttgart (Germany). Inst. of Plant Production and Agroecology in the Tropics and Subtropics)E-mail:langenbe@uni.hohenheim.de | Belonias, B.S.
The island of Leyte in the Eastern Visayas takes a central position between the Philippine main islands of Luzon and Mindanao. It is characterized by the Leyte Cordillera, which is part of the Philippine fault line. Within the Leyte Cordillera, Mt. Pangasugan takes an exceptional role since it provides a cantena from lowland forest remnants on its foot hills to mossy forest on its summit at 1,158 m alt. being a good example for a pronounced telescope effect. Recently, Mt. Pangasugan has been declared as conservation priority area with `extremely high importance' . Mt. Pangasugan has been the focus of comprehensive botanical studies. The authors present the current status of the floristic assessment of Mt. Pangasugan based on their own studies as well as on the plant collection of the Herbarium of the Leyte State University, which is located at the foot of Mt. Pangasugan. Presently, the Herbarium houses c. 4500 specimens, more than 3000 of them originating from primary forests of Mt. Pangasugan. Based on the present status of specimen processing and identification they represent 102 families, 307 genera, and 679 species of angiosperms, 2 families, 2 genera, and 3 species of gymnosperms, 22 families, 53 genera, and 85 species of pteridophytes, and 100 spcimens of Bryophytes, which represent a minimum of 52 species. Additionally, 60 taxa of macroscopic fungi have been reported, of which 47 could be identified to genus level. In total, 879 native taxa have been identified for Mt. Pangasugan so far. To the authors own observations this is just a fraction of the floristic richness of the area.
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